Excerpt from The Psalter and Martyrology of Ricemarch, Vol. 1Nevertheless, a revival of learning was at hand. In the first quarter of the tenth century the number of Irish scholars considerably increased, and remained apparently at the same level till within a few years of its close.3 By the year 1000 the number was doubled and no very serious diminution is notice able till the close of the eleventh century. In the first quarter of that century the number of scholars was almost as great as in the second quarter of the ninth and it was not exceeded in any other quarter of a century of the pre-norman era.It is true, of course, that the figures supplied by the Annals must not be pressed too far: the increase in the tenth and eleventh centuries may be in part due to a lowering of the standard of literary attainment, in consequence of which the honour of mention in the Annals was more readily granted than in earlier times. But, allowing for this possibility, the increase cannot be wholly devoid of significance. And ih estimating the state of learning in Ireland we must take account of two other facts, our knowledge of which we owe to the annalists.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.